THE NEWS WRAP: Mining tax passes lower house after deal with Greens

The Federal Government’s Mining Resources Rent Tax has passed the Lower House of Federal Parliament after Labor struck a deal with the Greens to find the $100 million in revenue lost when it made a separate agreement it made to secure the support of the key independent MPs.

While the Government is yet to outline how it how the revenue shortfall will be made up, the agreement with the Greens all but ensures the MMRT will pass the Upper House.

The MMRT package also includes a number of measures that will impact small businesses, including the abolition of the Entrepreneurs Tax Offset and a 1% cut to company tax rates.

Gay sold 3.4 million shares in December 2009, three months before the company revealed that its profit for the first half of that financial year had slumped 98%.

Gunns shares fell 20% in February after the profit slump was revealed.

Gay is expected to appear in the Launceston Magistrates Court next month.

Overnight

US stocks slid lower again overnight as concerns about the European debt crisis continue to dominate global markets. The Dow Jones industrial average fell 64.79 points, or 0.56%, to 11,482.52 points while the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index lost 5.77 points, or 0.48%, to 1,187.21 points.

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